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I bet that if Ash had taken more time to train all of his Pokémon, Ritchie wouldn't stand a chance against Ash. But perhaps this is a good thing - considering the fact Ash learns a lot from this defeat and drastically changes from his ego-form to something a little more matured.

I've always thought Ash loosing was one of the few artistic things the writers did in the first season. We knew he was going to win; he always won. Then he lost. Re-watching the show, I realized the writers did a bit of for shadowing in the episodes before Ash went to the league. Every episode mentioned that Ash's should be training, but he wasn't.

† I am a Christian and proud of it! Copy and paste this into your sig if you are too.†

It was November 27, 1999 and I was nine years old. I had waited an entire year expecting Ash to win the Indigo League (because I was nine and didn't expect the series to be dragged out indefinitely). And his loss pissed me off possibly even more than it did Ash.

It wasn't just how he was unfairly handicapped by not having Pidgeotto. It is that I didn't think Ash really lost!

Let me first say that I actually did not think using Charizard was such a terrible idea. Taurus, Kingler, and Muk had never been used by Ash prior to the tournament and probably lacked the necessary experience to fight Ritchie's main team.

Now why did Ash lose? Because Charizard was taking a nap on the field. He wasn't going crazy, he wasn't trying to get away, he just was lying on the ground. Not because he thought he would lose, but because he knew he would win. And because of that they said he "refuses to battle".

???? Charizard actually did engage the Pikachu in battle by stomping his feet and flapping his wings. After that he lied down. One could accuse him of being careless and contemptuous but since when is that illegal? Ritchie's Pikachu should have been obligated to engage and defeat Charizard so long as it was on the field, whether it was sleeping or not.

So in my mind Ash was actually cheated by the referee. I'm glad I finally got this out of my system nearly 14 years after the fact.

It was November 27, 1999 and I was nine years old. I had waited an entire year expecting Ash to win the Indigo League (because I was nine and didn't expect the series to be dragged out indefinitely). And his loss pissed me off possibly even more than it did Ash.

It wasn't just how he was unfairly handicapped by not having Pidgeotto. It is that I didn't think Ash really lost!

Let me first say that I actually did not think using Charizard was such a terrible idea. Taurus, Kingler, and Muk had never been used by Ash prior to the tournament and probably lacked the necessary experience to fight Ritchie's main team.

Now why did Ash lose? Because Charizard was taking a nap on the field. He wasn't going crazy, he wasn't trying to get away, he just was lying on the ground. Not because he thought he would lose, but because he knew he would win. And because of that they said he "refuses to battle".

???? Charizard actually did engage the Pikachu in battle by stomping his feet and flapping his wings. After that he lied down. One could accuse him of being careless and contemptuous but since when is that illegal? Ritchie's Pikachu should have been obligated to engage and defeat Charizard so long as it was on the field, whether it was sleeping or not.

So in my mind Ash was actually cheated by the referee. I'm glad I finally got this out of my system nearly 14 years after the fact.

I think it's the fact that Charizard was just lying there and not doing anything that made the referee automatically disqualify Charizard. Also we have previously seen how Charizard barely listened to ash. Remember the match against Blaine?

Lost my Platinum, so that's not good. On the other hand, I have heartgold and my FC is:

Well, this sucked! When I watched this episode for the first time, I HATED Team Rocket and I still hate them in this episode whenever I watch it again. Because of those annoying thives, Ash's Pokemon got tired and he almost got disqualified. Whenever Ash tried to make an escape, $@*%ing Team Rocket always comes into his way to steal Pikachu. But thankfully Ash managed to beat them and arrived in time for his match against Ritchi.
When he finally arrived, I thought it was going to be a real showdown.....Man, I was so wrong. Ash sends out Squirtle, but he loses to Ritchie's Butterfree named Happy. Then Ash sends out Pikachu, who makes 'Happy' unhappy by defeating it.
Next, he sends out a Charmender, who defeats Pikachu. Ash was down to his last Pokémon, so it's a tought decision for him. He remembers how his Charizard defeated Magmar during his battle against Blaine, so he decieds to go with Charizard! Charizard takes down the Charmender, so Ritchi returns it and sends out his Pikachu....Zippo. Charizard blows back the yellow rodent at first, then he thinks it as a weak opponent and lays down for taking a NAP! Ash begs his Charizard to battle, but he didn't listen and continiued to disobey him. So the referee makes Ritchi the winner of the match!!

This episode was totally crap! It's the most embarassing way Ash ever has lost in a Pokémon League. If Team Rocket didn't stopped him at the beginning, he would've win the match.....But No! The writers didn't want that, so they made Ash lose in a terrible way.
Charizard shouldn't have took a nap during an Important League battle, I didn't like him in this episode as well.
Overall, this is Ash's worst League lose ever!

I've always thought Ash loosing was one of the few artistic things the writers did in the first season. We knew he was going to win; he always won. Then he lost. Re-watching the show, I realized the writers did a bit of for shadowing in the episodes before Ash went to the league. Every episode mentioned that Ash's should be training, but he wasn't.

I think it's the fact that Charizard was just lying there and not doing anything that made the referee automatically disqualify Charizard. Also we have previously seen how Charizard barely listened to ash. Remember the match against Blaine?

Why should it matter what Charizard was doing? So long as it occupied the battlefield it was still in the fight, IMO. If it wanted to take a nap, that's its problem. Putting a Pokemon to sleep is a legitimate move and does not automatically disqualify anyone, so why on earth should taking a nap matter?

I watched this episode again last night and although my overall score for it has dropped slightly, I still think it holds up really well. It's quite an intense episode because of Ash having to race against the clock and escape Team Rocket so he can make it back in time for the match. People will call me crazy for saying this, but it's probably my favourite league loss episode. When you see him lose for the first time, you can really feel for Ash on how angry and upset he is about Charizard costing him the match. Yeah, the battle isn't that great compared to Johto and beyond, but it nicely demonstrates the flaws in Ash's character and lack of training, which were being developed throughout the season. Remember, we were all expecting Ash to win back in the day, but now that I'm older this will probably remain the only time I appreciate the writers on choosing a unfair way for Ash to lose the league.

If Ash had not fallen for Team Rocket's trick like that, he probably would have won.
However, he still would have sent Charizard out, and he still would have disobeyed Ash's orders to make him lose anyway.

This was one of the rare episodes where I was actually mad that Ash lost a battle. I was never really invested in him even in OS, but seeing him lose to Ritchie in such a sad way was painful. To this day I haven't forgiven TR for their scheme or Charizard for his disobedience here.

Well it wasn't Ash's fault it was Misty's. If she hadn't fell for that call and tell "I know it is you TR!" Or that if Ash traveled back in time to bring ritchie to the house to make sure that Ash hadn't fallen for that call.

Aww I felt bad for Ash when he lost to Ritchie cuz of Charizard disobeying him. I also blame Team rocket for making him late to the match and I wish the battle itself had been longer. It was a very frustrating episode for me. ^^;